adjust text size:

Trade Secrets

Wider acceptance and use of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) will undoubtedly bring changes to the service bay. When the president endorses this rapidly emerging and evolving technology, it's time for you to take notice.

At a press conference I attended some years ago, Lee Iacocca shared a little story about how when he first started in the automobile business everyone was saying that electric vehicles could really take over if only someone could develop a reliable battery. Many years later, at a press preview of a Chrysler electric vehicle, he said we still needed a reliable battery for electric vehicles. Perhaps the long sought-after battery is about to happen.

In the hubbub of the recent media frenzy, you might have missed the fact that on Feb. 20, 2006, President Bush visited the Milwaukee headquarters of Johnson Controls, Inc., and toured the company's new Battery Technology Center.

Why, you might reasonably ask, was the president touring a battery lab in Wisconsin when so much around him is happening? The short answer is “oil prices.” The president is trying to develop an energy policy that will drastically reduce this country's dependence on foreign oil. He's convinced that hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are a big part of the solution to the energy crisis. His visit to Johnson Controls was an effort to highlight the work being done to make the wider use of hybrid vehicles a reality.

President Bush said: “Less than half the crude oil used in our refineries is produced here at home, 60% comes from foreign countries....Some of the nations we rely on for oil have unstable governments, or fundamental differences with the United States ....It creates a national security issue when we're held hostage for energy by foreign nations that may not like us.”

Most HEVs run on nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) batteries. Lithium-ion batteries, it is believed, have a greater potential than nickel-metal-hydride batteries for power generation and offer major advantages in size, weight, cycle life and cost. Johnson Controls has invested approximately $4 million, the cost of the new Battery Technology Center , because the company believes that lithium-ion batteries are the batteries of the future for HEVs.

Johnson Controls is the world's largest manufacturer of automotive original equipment and aftermarket batteries. It produces over 100 million lead-acid batteries every year. They also have been supplying nickel-metal-hydride batteries for hybrid vehicles for over ten years.

In 2004, the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) which includes the U.S. Dept. of Energy and DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors�granted Johnson Controls a $14 million contract for lithium-ion battery development. In the program, Johnson Controls is working on a lithium-based battery that is better able to take abuse than previous batteries of its kind. The new lithium-ion batteries will have a significantly improved power-to-weight performance ratio vs. current hybrid-battery technology.

The Trade Secret is not to be afraid to embrace forward-looking technologies, but to do it with cautious optimism. The technology that comes out of the research Johnson Controls is putting into batteries for HEVs could lead to a battery breakthrough for all sorts of products.

Now here's where the “caution” comes in. Lithium-ion battery technology has some serious hurdles to clear. It's been reported that these batteries may have a problem with capacity deterioration after one year, and that they may fail completely after only a few years. There's plenty of additional research to be done, but it appears that lithium-ion battery technology should allow vehicle manufacturers to introduce a wider range of HEVs, at reasonable prices. When that happens, let's hope our nation will finally be able to begin reducing its dependence on imported oil.